In April of 2012 I received an email inviting me to join Pinterest. I had heard about it, so I immediately jumped on the bandwagon after perusing the site. I became addicted, especially after I discovered the iPhone app. I justified every second of every minute of every hour that I spent building boards, searching for images on my own and pinning other member's pins.
My favorite boards are Typography, Design, Posters and Art - well anything that has to do with art and design. A few weeks into it another "Pinner" who follows just a few of my boards pinned a handwritten Post-It note that read "Hi, I'm Mark @TOGO Media on Twitter. Please Join Me on Twitter." with the caption - A little shameless self-promotion never hurt anyone (I hope). Please join me on Twitter..... I was in stitches and felt the need to share. In the comment section I wrote "Hell yeah!" That post began a dialogue between us which evolved into a friendship. Because of Mark's social engagement, I am now Pinning, Tweeting, blogging, Facebooking and G+ing with purpose.
This new found purpose all came about after Mark pointed out that my business had zero online presence. Mark is a leader and an expert in the field of marketing, so of course he did his homework to find that Jennifer! Designs, Ltd. was practically invisible to the virtual world. When he pointed this out to me, I felt like an out of touch business owner.
In 2004 I sold my products to stores and spent a lot of money exhibiting at trade shows. Business was steady until 2008 when a lot of small business gift stores (my clientele) began going out of business.
As clients disappeared, so did I. I gave up on trade shows and began selling my products at craft shows while servicing what was left of my costumer base and working full time in an unrelated industry. I became complacent and began to lose site of my dream. I realize now that I had let my business become a hobby.
Mark's remarks were a wake up call - one that I needed very much. The world and how we market, buy, sell and engage is changing every day. My world has changed dramatically since I began Tweeting, blogging, Pinning, and building my website. I discovered that I could restructure my company and sell online by marketing through social media. It's a lot of hard work and lot of fun and it's also a great way to learn from others. Follow the leaders, I say! Best of all, it's a fabulous way to engage with my customers as well as meeting potential customers.
I traded traveling and selling at trade shows for photographing my products in my studio and importing them into my computer. My clients have changed as well. Now the client is YOU, the end user. This is exciting because I love people. Designing stationery and greeting cards is my passion and I want to hear about your passions. I want to know you and I want to make products that make you happy!
If you have a Twitter, Pinterest, G+ or an FB page, let me know and I'm sure we'll meet up.
~This entry is dedicated to my mentor and friend, Mark Strauss - @TOGOMedia on Twitter, togo-media.com and Mark Strauss on Pinterest. Thanks Mark!
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